At latest Senate hearing Sandro Muhlach speaks up, Gerald Santos says musical director raped him

CEBU, Philippines — Sparkle GMA Artist Center talent Sandro Muhlach and former Kapuso singer Gerald Santos testified at the Senate Committee on Public Information and Mass Media hearing led by Senator Robinhood Padilla yesterday, August 19.

This marked Sandro’s first public appearance since filing a sexual harassment case with the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).against GMA Network’s independent contractors Jojo Nones and Richard Cruz

Santos was summoned after expressing support for Sandro in an August 5 Facebook post, stating, “I was once in this situation, but back then, wala kang boses, walang social media...I hope he gets the justice I was once denied of.”

Senate President Pro Tempore Jinggoy Estrada emphasized the importance of these hearings to combat the culture of sexual abuse in the Philippine showbiz industry.

“That’s why we are investigating at [a] legislation [level]. The committee of Sen. Robin is going to submit a report so we can resolve the sexual harassment [culture] in the movie industry. This has been ongoing since the early ‘90s,” Estrada said.

Appearing via Zoom with his lawyer Czarina Quintanilla-Raz, Sandro, 23, read aloud the text conversation between him and Nones, previously read by his father Niño, in a prior hearing.

When Estrada asked if Sandro sensed anything wrong during their exchange, the newbie actor said that he didn’t initially perceive any malice. He said he went to Nones’ hotel room because he was told that GMA’s drama team was present and he wanted to build camaraderie with Nones’ colleagues.

Nones also clarified a text message about a show he wanted Sandro to be part of, implying it wasn’t a GMA project. Estrada asked if Nones had the authority to cast actors, to which he replied, “In GMA, wala po, your honor. I can if it’s outside GMA and I’m the one producing.”

“The context was that I can do projects outside GMA. As a director and content creator, we can do projects anywhere else,” he added.

Sandro recalled that upon entering the hotel room, he saw that Cruz was visibly drunk and lying in bed, while Nones offered him a glass of wine.

Earlier in the day, Sandro’s camp filed a criminal complaint of rape through sexual assault and multiple counts of acts of lasciviousness with the Department of Justice (DOJ).

Because the two accused have yet to receive a copy of the complaint, Sandro declined to provide more details when Estrada further probed.

Instead, an executive session involving Sandro, Niño, their legal counsel, and the senators took place after Estrada expressed frustration over the limited progress of the public session.

Nones cited in contempt by Estrada

Estrada later cited Nones for contempt as he accused him for lying to the committee after he denied offering a donation to a charity of Niño’s choice.

An affidavit from GMA Network Senior Vice President Annette Gozon-Valdes confirmed that Nones made the offer in exchange for their forgiveness. Niño said the offer was put across by Nones and Cruz when they had a meeting at the residence of Gozon-Valdes

Nones denied this, saying, “Your honor, upon review po of the affidavit po of Miss Annette Gozon, nowhere in the affidavit na she mentioned po that there was an offer of settlement your honor and in fact, she mentioned only the donation to the charitable institution after she put, after the paragraph, where she said that Mr. Niño Muhlach came from the previous scheduled charity event so it supports our statements earlier your honor.”

An irked Estrada later said, “Nagsisinungaling ka na, eh. Alam mo, Jojo, hindi kita kilala kahit matagal na ako sa showbiz. Hindi kita kilala pero huwag naman ganoon. We are here trying to know the truth, ferret out the truth. Kapag patuloy kang nagsisinungaling dito sa amin, talagang isa-cite ka namin ng contempt. Maliwanag na maliwanag dito sa affidavit, maliwanag na maliwanag na sinabi ni Sandro, may drugs pa na involved, may sexual harassment na involved.”

He added, “Hindi pa nga sexual harassment, assault, eh. Pinagsamantalahan ninyo yung bata, pinag-take ninyo ng drugs, tsaka ninyo pinagsamantalahan. That is drug-induced sexual assault. Kawawa naman yung bata. Pinag-drugs ninyo na, hinalay ninyo pa.”

After Padilla approved of Estrada’s motion to hold Nones under Senate detention, the   latter was led to a cell where he will remain until he will not “tell the truth.”

Gerald: ‘Advised to move on’

An emotional Santos, meanwhile, revealed that he was raped by a musical director in 2005 when he was 15 years old.

“I was not harassed, I was not abused. I was raped, your honor,” said the singer, adding that he didn’t file a legal case back then for fear of the repercussions.

Santos, 28, recalled that when he tried to file an internal complaint, some members of his former talent agency advised him to move on. He escalated the complaint to the network’s higher-ups, leading to the termination of the musical director’s association with GMA.

“He elevated [his complaint] immediately to the president and COO. In fact, GMA has a box where you can put your complaint and the president will read it,” said GMA’s lawyer Angelo Diokno. “If the department is not acting on it, the complaint can go directly to legal, to HR, and the office of the president.”

Diokno stressed the network's strict policy against sexual harassment. “We never covered up any incident of sexual harassment. Maybe there was a problem with the reporting [of the incident],” he said, adding that the network would take action against anyone involved in a cover-up.

Despite the musical director’s termination, Santos felt alienated by the director’s friends within the network, leading Santos to leave GMA.

“…kasi po ‘yung musical director ay connected po sa mga ibang executives sa loob, so ako po ay napag-initan so kahit na naalis nga po siya, naalis din po ako sa network,” he said.

Santos can still file a case against the musical director as DOJ State Counsel Nancy Lozano said that the prescription period for rape cases lasts up to 20 years. Estrada encouraged Santos to pursue legal action.

“After po nu’ng nagreklamo ako sa GMA, natanggal po ako sa GMA, halos gumapang po kami,” Santos said. “Dumating sa point na gusto ko na rin tapusin ang buhay ko. Hirap na hirap po ako kung paano ko itataguyod ang pamilya ko.”

‘Diring-diri sa sarili ko’

Before Padilla concluded the session, Sandro requested to be given the chance to speak about what he has been going through since the incident.

“…Ayoko rin po kasing mangyari ito sa iba kaya po sabi ko sa kapatid ko na sana huwag mangyari sa kanya yung nangyari sa akin kasi napakahirap ho. Hirap na hirap po ako makatulog. Hindi po ako makakain. Araw-araw po ako na ina-anxiety tsaka hanggang ngayon po, diring-diri pa rin ako sa sarili ko,” he said.

“I try my best to be okay para hindi masyadong mag-alala yung pamilya ko. Pero yung mommy ko na nasa States, araw-araw na umiiyak kasi sinisisi niya yung sarili niya na malayo siya sa akin at hindi niya po ako maprotektahan. Yun po yung everyday ko na naiisip para maging okay po ako, pero yung totoo po, hindi po talaga ako okay.”

Sandro said he hopes the country’s laws will be further strengthened to protect victims, who, like “Kuya Gerald Santos, it’s really hard to speak up.”

“Actually, ayoko po talaga kumalat ito kasi natatakot po ako na maapektuhan yung career ko sa GMA. Kasi, three years ko po inalagaan yung pangalan ko sa GMA. Lahat po, pinakisamahan ko nang maayos. Lahat po ng mga boss ko. Even yung manager ko, alam po nila yan,” said Sandro.

“And sana po, magkaroon ng support services na ready na makapagsumbong po agad yung mga biktima na katulad ko. Kasi hindi naman lahat may kakayahan na magsumbong freely. Kasi puwede po silang balikan ng perpetrators na gumawa ng case na yon.”